July 14, 2004
Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-1979)
Kim Newton
Marshall Space Fight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
(Phone: 256/544-0034)
George Diller
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
(Phone: 321/867-2468)
RELEASE: 04-218
AUTONOMOUS RENDEZVOUS SPACECRAFT ARRIVES AT VANDENBERG
The Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) flight
demonstrator, a spacecraft developed to prove technologies to locate
and maneuver near an orbiting satellite, today arrived at Vandenberg
Air Force Base, Calif., in preparation for a fall 2004 launch.
Future applications of technologies developed by the DART project will
benefit the nation in future space-vehicle systems development
requiring in-space assembly, services or other autonomous rendezvous
operations.
Designed and developed for NASA by Orbital Sciences Corporation,
Dulles, Va., the DART spacecraft will be launched on a Pegasus launch
vehicle.
At about 40,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean, the Pegasus will be
released from Orbital's Stargazer L-1011 aircraft, fire its rocket
motors and boost DART into a polar orbit approximately 472 miles by
479 miles.
Once in orbit, DART will rendezvous with a target satellite, the
Multiple Paths, Beyond-Line-of-Site Communications (MUBLCOM)
satellite, also built by Orbital Sciences. DART will then perform
several close proximity operations, such as moving toward and away
from the satellite using navigation data provided by onboard sensors.
Launched in May 1999, the MUBLCOM satellite was used by the Department
of Defense as an experimental communications satellite. The entire
24-hour mission will be accomplished without human intervention and
is unscripted. The DART flight computer will determine its own path
to accomplish its mission objectives.
"Successful completion of all major system tests gives us the
confidence the DART spacecraft will complete its mission objectives
and is ready to move to the field site to begin integration with the
launch vehicle," said Jim Snoddy, DART project manager at NASA's
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. "This milestone moves
us one step closer to demonstrating the key technologies that will
enable future space transportations systems," he added.
The DART spacecraft will be mated to the Pegasus launch vehicle over
the next several months at Vandenberg. Flight simulations and final
reviews are scheduled to ensure launch readiness in the fall.
The DART spacecraft is nearly six feet long, with a diameter of three
feet, and weighs about 800 pounds.
The DART project is funded by NASA's Office of Exploration Systems and
managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center. Government oversight of
launch vehicle preparations, spacecraft integration and countdown
management on launch day is the responsibility of the NASA Launch
Services Program based at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
For more information on DART on the Internet, visit:
http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/news/dart/
-end-